RIP Alan Young, Wilbur on ‘Mister Ed,’ dead at 96 – CNN.com

Alan Young played Wilbur Post or “Mister Ed’s dad” as I always thought of him on the popular television comedy “Mister Ed,” which ran from 1961 to ’66. CNN just reported his death at age 96, of natural causes on Thursday at the Motion Picture & Television Home in Woodland Hills, California. Yea, that’s really old for a man.

He was born in North Shields, Tyne-and-Wear, England, UK, named Angus Young and became a radio performer in Canada by the age of 13. He worked in many films in the US and even had his own show, The Alan Young Show before George Burns chose him for Mr. Ed because, as Burns put it, “he looks like the kind of guy a horse would talk to.” He wrote a book called Mister Ed and Me and More that is available from a number of sellers on Amazon for an exorbitant amount of money but that might be a fun read if your library has it.

I really enjoyed the Mister Ed show as a kid largely because Mister Ed was never in danger like Lassie often was, Wilbur was usually the one who was in whatever comic-hot-water was immanent. Fun stuff.